This article reviews the development of the U.S. sociological literature addressing the issue of
children of immigrants. Situating sociology within the history of 20th century U.S. immigration
flows, we can observe three well-defined periods. Initially, the children of immigrants who
arrived in the century´s first decades were described in problematic terms, as marginalized
individuals who experienced an intense cultural conflict, due to their confrontation with dual
identities. (The legacy of the Chicago School, which paid preferential attention to subjective
issues, was dominant at that time.) By mid-century, this pessimistic tone was replaced by
something very different that described the successful process of the «Americanization» of the
descendants of immigrants and celebrated the capacity of U.S. society to integrate populations
from diverse origins. (This was the era of functionalism, which viewed social systems as being
coherent.) Later, facing new waves of immigration at century´s end, sociologists tried to answer
the question of whether or not assimilation mechanisms were still behaving as they had in the
past. (The position of immigrants" children is now analyzed in reference to such factors as
ethnicity, social networks, and the parents" human capital.)